Medicine Gobbles Up Research Money,Atlanta Journal-Constitution, November 18, 2009
In 2007, medical research received roughly five times the funding received by any one of seven other scientific research categories. In 2003, the ratio was six to one. Meanwhile, during the past 25 years, America has fallen behind in such fields as alternative energy research and telecommunications.

From 1999 to 2003, I was an associate editor for Today's Chemist at Work, Modern Drug Discovery, and Chemical Innovation.

Today's Chemist at Work, Modern Drug Discovery, Chemical Innovation

Acoustic Gas Separation: Greg Swift and his colleagues at Los Alamos National Laboratory are separating gas mixtures with a device that generates some serious sound waves, but the neighbors aren’t complaining.

Architecture of the Very Small: In the solid-state world, chemical formulas may tell you very little. For many of the most interesting new nanostructured solids, it’s the architecture that counts.

Ceramics: Beyond the Coffee Mug: You can find ceramics in devices that mimic eyes, noses, and muscles. Ceramics carry electricity, filter out static in cell phone conversations, and warn you when the air isn’t as clean as it should be.

Composites of Opposites: Sometimes negativity is merely a disguise for nonconformity. In the field of materials design, thinking negatively can produce some very positive results.

Imaging: Portraits from Life: What a clinical researcher really wants is to watch cells in action, preferably without harming the patient in the process. A picture, or better yet, a series of pictures, would be ideal.

Picture a Protein: Because so many of today’s drugs work by fitting into pockets, pores, and channels inprotein molecules, wouldn’t it be great to have an atom-by-atom molecular map?

Uncle Tungsten(book review): Oliver Sacks interweaves brief histories of the giants of the physical sciences and their discoveries in between segments of his own life. The result is an engrossing narrativeof how he came to embrace the physical sciences with such enthusiasm and limitless curiosity.

Whose Game? Whose Rules?(news analysis): Research scientists, pharmaceutical company executives, and stock analysts have found their playing fields overlapping more and more, with multiple government agencies acting as referees. The results can be as messy as a bowler throwing curve balls on a golf course.